His name "of record" was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he
lives in the affections of the world as Mark Twain. Through many
years, he made the world laugh in pure healthful enjoyment. He
made it chuckle and he made it think sane thoughts when it might
have become gloomy or morose. In dying he caused grief for the
first time.

Perhaps one reason why Mark Twain gained so large a place in
the hearts of his fellow men, was that men understood, or thought
they understood him. Few writers have taken the public into their
confidence in more pleasing and, at times, in more touching
manner. Those who know most of the man's history are nowise
surprised to hear the verdict of his physician, that he died of a
broken heart.

Americans at least, realize that underneath the bubbling
humor, the gentle searching satire that are the most apparent
characteristics of his later and better work, mere craftmanship
aside, there is a solid foundation of solid good sense, broad
sympathy, keen perception, quick, accurate observation, which
drag from their hiding places false pretense, poor logic,
counterfeit charity. Critics he had and will always have, because
some natures seem unable to appreciate his genius. Mark Twain was
never, even at the beginning a mere juggler of words. His quips
were never aimless. His funny stories were funny for what there
was in them. His "Prince and Pauper" has satire on the social
order clothed in sobriety of style. His "Connecticut Yankee in
King Arthur's Court," displays that satire in its more playful
but no less effective aspect.

It was in large part his ability to interpret and portray
character and the condition of humanity that gave Mark Twain his
great strength as a humorist. His philosophical outlook was by no
means to be despised. How delightfully, how lightly he could
pillory the villain, the fakir and the cheat! Mark Twain was one
of the giants of American literature along with Irving, Hawthorne
and Poe. His humor was less gentle than that of Irving, but it
meant infinitely more, because it probed farther into the world
soul. This perhaps was in part because the world dealt less
gently with him, but chiefly because his perceptions were more
rapier like.

Mark Twain had his joys and his sorrows. He was acquainted
with grief, and his fellow countrymen rejoiced with him and
mourned with him because they recognized him as one of
themselves. They envied him his pipe, his reprehensible habit of
writing and smoking in bed, his disregard of the rules of mere
convention, his affectations, which, perhaps after all were only
acted satires. They admired the manhood that would not permit him
the refuge of the bankruptcy court, but forced him into years of
privation. They loved him for his ideal beautiful home life, his
deep affection for and tender tributes to his wife and children.
They will cherish his memory.